The Gathering
by Sapphire Kitsune02
Summary: To think, this had started with a simple trip to the beach...
1. The Big Apple

_AN: Please note, this may start like an original story, but it is a fanfiction. I've already had someone try to report me for this misunderstanding. The rest of the chapters are due to go up soon. We claim no ownership to Hellboy, Gundam Wing, Final Fantasies XII or VIII, House, Tales of Vesperia, Sharkboy & Lavagirl, Slayers, Twilight, Transformers, Heroes or Yu Yu Hakusho. Those honors belong to Mike Mignola, Yoshiyuki Tomino & Katsuyuki Sumiziwa (creators of the original 1979 anime, Mobile Suit Gundam, which Gundam Wing is loosely based off), Squaresoft/Square-Enix, David Shore, Namco, Robert Rodriguez (writer, producer and director of the Spy Kids movies), Hajime Kanzaka, Stephanie Meyer, Hasbro & Michael Bay, Tim Kring, and Yoshihiro Togashi._

_Also, this is a form of self-insert writing. Don't read if you don't like it. If you do read, please leave a review. Flames will be gladly used to make s'mores. Also, PA is common abbreviation for physician's assistant.  
_

1

The Big Apple

* * *

Clearly, then, the city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo

—_**The Human Zoo**__**, **_**Desmond Morris**

* * *

New York wasn't the best place to live.

Sure, it was wonderful to visit – Chinatown, Broadway, Times Square and the Statue of Liberty; you practically had an infinite amount of choices of what to see and where to stay, especially with the Burroughs everywhere. New York was the city that never slept, nearly as old as the United States, with the history and culture to back the claim up more than a hundred times over.

Still, it was smoggy and polluted and you just about sold your soul for a decent apartment. The traffic was utter and complete murder, and the streets were laden with pigeons scurrying heedlessly underfoot day in and day out. On a good day, the streets teemed and burst with people, thanks to the Empire State's overpopulation of the city. But a living could be carved out, with gumption and will and a whole lot of creativity.

Oh, and just about no social life to afford board and food.

"Katie!" Radha kicked the door open, a beat-up riding satchel cutting into her shoulder, her arms holding seven pounds of overweight plastic bags of Balducci's groceries. The young med-student glanced around, then pitched her voice shriller. "Ka – tie!"

A dog in the distance howled.

"KATIE! AN – SW – ER ME!"

A loud crash sounded from the second bedroom. "Over here! And stop yelling!"

Radha kicked off her mud-and-snow caked boots, and crossed to the sage-green suede couch, her bag sliding into the mushy cushions. The groceries, purchased with both her and her housemate's cumulative salaries, thunked onto the countertop. She peeled off her bomber's jacket, and hanging it on the wall-mounted coat rack with her ushanka, trotted off to find her best friend.

"What are you doing in here Katie?" She queried, sticking her head in cautiously. The room had been divided into a sleeping area and an office; the office for Katie's work and the bed for a friend who would be visiting. "Kate?"

"One sec – tryin' to kill my writer's block," The paler, younger girl chewed on the cap of her ballpoint pen. "Just gotta a job to do a medicinal article…"

Radha's lips curved into a slight smile. A plastic chair was drawn up, and she straddled it, resting her arms atop the back of it and her chin on her hands. "Heh. Nice. I'd help you, but, I'm kinda busy.."

Katie glanced at her, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Oh? With _what _exactly?"

"Working for my Master's for one th – "

The other girl rolled her eyes. "You're nearly done. You'll ace the final exam this month.."

"Shut up, I'm talking. Anyway, then there's me workin' as a PA,"

"How you landed the job, I'll never know," Katie remarked dryly. She quirked a slender brow at her friend. "You're a freaking midget."

"You're heaps of help. Really," Radha crossed her arms. She waited a beat. "Mind if I continue?"

"Yeah. But continue anyway – the radio's busted and you make great background noise,"

The med-student noted the mauled chunk of wiring and metal. It was the same shade of green as her favorite radio. "You owe me a new one. Anyway, you know that store I always buy half of my groceries from?"

Katie grimaced. "Oh, yeah. Health Food 'R' Us – believe me, I know. What about the world without Skittles and Peeps?"

"Hush. Well, they got these forms from Honda in there – fill one out, send it in, an' you might end up with a free, fully equipped Honda," She paused. "I've been sending, like, fifty forms a week since May – guess what?"

"All your efforts culminated to naught and you were left to lament your loss of a blessed vehicle?"

"No, you bloody pessimist.." Her lip's parted in a devious grin. Her eyes sparkled brightly. "We won."

"….Quit pullin' mah leg."

"I pull it not. We are now the proud owners of a '09 Honda Element,"

Katie blinked. They never won anything, unless they stole the prize from the winner. "Seriously?"

The other girl chuckled, shaking the set of keys in her hand; there was new addition. It was rare that Katie was the dumbfounded one. "Seriously. Outfitted to the nines."

Katie snatched the keys from her, and whooped. "…Frickin' kewl!"

* * *

"Can I drive it?"

"No. 'Sides, you're not allowed still. You ran that stoplight in Manhattan, remember?"

"…Radha? That was you,"

The PA scowled and twisted to face her best friend – or, rather, surrogate sister. "…Me? You were the one who got off Sharpies enough that she was practically, _drunk _– I was busy trying to wrestle the wheel away from you so we wouldn't crash!"

"Debatable. You gave me the Sharpies..."

Parked in front of their apartment, was a citrus-orange Element, fresh off the assembly line. Oversized chrome hubs, splash guards, trailer hitch, side steps – _Probably for Radha and her short as hell ass,_ thought Katie bemusedly – it looked wonderful from the outside. Inside, all-season floor mats, cargo organizer and net, and an armrest of a storage box for the driver's side, plus a six-disc CD player built into the dash.

"Whaddaya say we take it for a spin?" Katie piped, grinning. "Y'know, head down to the harbor? Or the beach?"

"We could go to that one by Coney Island," Radha mused softly. She touched the cool metal door of the vehicle. She hummed a few bars of ragtime. "Manhattan Beach, that's the one,"

"I'll get the soda!"

"Yeah, yeah... – first, we pack the groceries. I'm not staying up past eleven filling the cupboards when I gotta cram for exams..."

Their door was already open. "..Hotdogs! I love me hotdogs! And pizza, and burgers, and _steak fries_ – ooh! I can't wait!"

The other girl rolled her eyes. "The hell you can't. You took your pills today, right?"

"…Ben & Jerry's! We can't go without Ben & Jerry's – where's that Cherry Garcia?" Last week's frozen spring rolls landed on the stoop. The hot wings followed suit, along with the med-student's beloved four-pack of Lean Cuisine. "Radha! Where's the ice cream?"

"…Katie? You took your pills, right?"

The box of Chinese takeout was flung outside. It narrowly missed the Element, General Tso's Chicken splattered across the windshield of a '66 Corvette Sting Ray. Radha grimaced, and pulled the tarp back over the sparkling vehicle. _Way too close. _

There was a pregnant pause. For a moment, Radha fretted that her best friend, in a moment of hyperactivity, may have hurt herself.

This was, of course, unfounded.

"…Radha! Get your ass in here! I can't find the fuckin' fire extinguisher!" Katie yelled from inside. "Double time!"

_….And to think, she's actually as sane as I am. _Radha sighed, and running a hand through her hair, entered the apartment. "…Katie? Hey, has your cabin fever driven you nuttier than me on caffeine? The extinguisher's _right next to you_ – dammit, _aim at the fire! _Not me!"

* * *

Forty-five minutes later, with Radha at the wheel, and a cooler of Philly cheese steaks, Pepsi, Vitamin Water and the elusive quart of Ben & Jerry's, they arrived at the shore. It was fairly crowded, so they drove a distance to the far end, by a tide pool, and tailgated there.

"Rad, where's my suit?"

The med-student glanced up from where she had dug a shallow pit, filled with kindling. She held a lit match in one hand. "Your duffel. You packed it there, in the front pocket so you'd remember. Which you didn't,"

"I fell asleep!" Katie protested. She popped the trunk and strung two sheets of soft canvas along the windows in the car, for privacy's sake, of course. "It's a long drive!"

"Uh-huh…" Radha tossed the match into the foil-lined pit, crumpling a kerosene-soaked kerchief and tossing it in. The flames roared up a moment, and she set a cheap iron-cast skillet to dangle above from the trunk's door. The cheese steaks went in and sizzled in the peanut oil. "Careful swimming Katie – Channel 5 says the sea's pretty choppy today,"

"They also say we shouldn't be able to afford a nice, three bedroom and two and half bath apartment," the journalist countered from inside the Element. Her silhouette rummaged through the cargo organizer. "You bring sunscreen? I don't wanna burn like toast..."

"Sunscreen, me? Nah," Radha flipped the cheese steaks. She popped two fries into her mouth, dusting off the excess salt. They'd stopped for Burger King during the drive. "I don't even _own_ any sunscreen. Too brown for it..."

The other girl hopped out in a slimming midnight-blue one-piece. "Yeah, well, try and get some for the sake of my white ass, okay? Sunburn's not a pleasant thing, lemme tell ya,"

Radha smirked. "Gotcha. Expect a travel-size, so don't go slathering globs of that shit on yourself,"

"Duly noted." She glanced at her best friend, in a quarter-sleeved apple-red top over a gray shirt and a pair of indigo jeans. "..You're not gonna – ?"

The med-student's reply was clipped and dry. She took the Philly cheese steaks off the skillet and dropped them onto a Chinet. "I don't swim. I can but I won't. The only reason I learned was for that emergency class."

"Whaddaya scared of? I mean, it's just water,"

"Yeah, well… I'm a land lubber, okay?" Radha flipped open the Igloo and wrenched the cap off a Vitamin Water. She took a long draught. "Just go and take a dip, alright? Somebody's gotta manage the grub – maybe, when you're done, we can dig for some clams?"

"Or crabs. It'd be awesome to have some food we don't gotta pay for," Katie grinned, getting a running start and diving headfirst into the water. She remained below the water a moment, then surfaced a few seconds later. She began doing the backstroke, whistling.

Radha smiled slightly, and shaking her head, locked the cheese steaks in a Tupperware. She took one of the old mopping buckets and a garden shovel, and went toward the tide pool. It was pretty obvious that Katie was already caught up in her swimming, and it would probably stay that way.

Things settled into a lull. It was a cool, breezy Friday afternoon and the beach didn't thin all that much, but it didn't exactly thicken. By the time the sun had begun to dip below the horizon, the med-student was already done with her clams and crabs and was pouring two tiny plastic bowls of wasabi and oyster sauce. The soundtrack to _Iron Man_ wafted out of the Element and striped towels were laid over a pair of discount beach chairs. It was the closest thing to peaceful Radha could remember and the only thing missing was –

"Katie! Where are ya?" She bellowed, cupping her hands around her mouth. She looked around worriedly, and ladled the just-finished the seafood and accompanying sauces into Tupperware. The containers were dropped in the cooler; all the Pepsis were still inside, untouched and bobbing in the chilly water. "Katie, c'mon! You're worryin' me here!"

Seagulls squawked and one tried to dive-bomb her. She whacked it with a rolled up copy of the New York Times. She frowned, her brow furrowing and collapsed the chairs, shoving them in the trunk next to the Igloo. She grabbed her satchel, minus the books, and quickly armed the Element's security system.

"Crazy bitch," She muttered, adjusting the strap of her bag as she switched her sandals for Nikes. "You better be alive and not floatin' like driftwood…"

She was prepared to walk the length of the beach, and maybe even Coney Island when said bitch bolted out of the water, screaming like a banshee, and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her violently.  
"Radhayagottahelpmethere'sthisfunkylooking_corpse_'sallblueandshitandandandand – !"

"Katie, what the – ?" The med-student shook her head, pried herself free and praying that it would knock Katie back to some semblance of sane, whacked her best friend upside the head. "Stop talkin' a mile a minute! And calm down!"

"I am calm!"

"You're as calm as the Atlantic at storm!" Radha retorted. She grabbed Katie by the arm and disarmed the security, popping the trunk so that they could sit on its ledge and lean against the cushioned seatback. She plunged a hand into the chilly water and pushed a Pepsi into her housemate's hand. "So chill like that soda, and tell me what the hell happened!"

"I did!" Her friend protested. She opened the Pepsi, though, and sipped it in an attempt to try and calm herself. She inhaled deeply, and drew her knees to her chest, feeling a fluffy towel being draped around her shoulders. She flashed a grateful smile. "..Thanks Radha. Anyway, I was swimming – like, twenty minutes after you finished with the Phillies – and, I was pretty deep, when I saw this guy just floating there.."

Radha frowned, confused. "…Floating? What, like he was out cold or something? Or was he – y'know.."

"…I don't know," Katie admitted. She took another sip and shivered as the breeze ghosted over them. "But, it was the first that I thought of – he was this really funny color, sorta grayish.. I think he was stuck in the kelp, now that I think about it.."

_Kelp? She went in that deep? For this long?_ The thought was pushed to the back of her mind; she could rag on Kate for it later. "So, if he was knocked out, what freaked you out?"

Katie squirmed uncertainly. When she spoke, her voice was eerily quiet. "Nothing in the water. I was just squintin' at 'im and trying to make sense of what I was seeing.. Then, before I know it, my mind's all scrambled and I feel like – like – "

Radha touched her forearm concernedly. Katie – her sister Katie – like this… It was worrying. "Hey.. If it's that upsetting.."

The other girl pushed her hand off, but smiled at her. "..Nah. I'll be okay.." She leaned against the seatback, running a hand through her damp hair. She pulled the towel around her tighter. "…It, just felt like I was being – well, _extinguished_ – by just being in water a little too long.. So, I panicked and before I know it, I'm babbling like a retard and shaking you like a rag doll.."

"Forgiven, on the account of temporary insanity…" The med-student rose to her feet and glanced at the water. "…Wanna head in?"

Katie sat up straighter, and stared at her bug-eyed. _"What?"_

"I'm serious!" Radha jumped the back seat, and went through her backpack. She located her periwinkle two-piece, and pulling down the canvas curtains, began to change into it. "If someone's there, we gotta find 'em. And if we are, God forbid, too late – well, we can phone the cops and let 'em know what's gone down. Let the departed get some closure,"

Her housemate and best friend groaned, now wringing the water out of her hair with the towel. "You gotta be freakin' good Samaritan, don't ya?"

"Hell yes!" She grabbed a cast net and balled it up into a pouch, throwing it over her shoulder. "All that good karma cumulated into us getting one sweet ride, right?"

"I thought it was your nigh-obsessive love of health food," Katie remarked. "Y'know, the fifty forms since May deal?"

Radha rolled her eyes. "Shut up and get in the water. I'm not having this weigh on my conscience,"

* * *

_Land lubber my ass, you lunatic Samaritan.._

Katie was in the water for the second time that day, and she wasn't a happy camper. Not only was Radha insisting that they swim back down to rescue a complete stranger, but it was six in the evening – with a forty-five minute drive home to boot. She didn't know exactly where the kelp forest was or if whoever she thought she saw would be there still. Maybe they would be and were unconscious, but they could be in the Grim Reaper's clutches by now..

Ah, well. Radha wasn't about to even consider the possibility – probably because she was who she was. At least she picked the right field to enter..

_Please don't be stuck there, please be alive,_ she thought desperately. She glanced behind her at Radha, and felt her stomach churn nervously. Her best friend was relying on her to lead her to a place she found on pure luck – and to maybe save someone's life.

_Yeah. No fuckin' pressure._

Then she resumed her mantra of praying that whoever had been there, wasn't and was safe and alive.

Apparently, she wasn't praying hard enough.

Thanks to Radha's unexpected foresight, she could make out the figure tangled in the kelp much better. The strong beam of white light from the waterproof halogen lamp washed over a lean, almost delicate silhouette. They kicked harder and swam closer.

She was positive, that despite being under water, they both gasped the unreal – no, surreal – sight before them.

Bluish dolphin-gray flesh, streaked with blue or black patterns, looked soft enough to touch and she could see the gills on either side of his – _His? This thing might not even have a gender! _She thought, astonished_ – _neck flutter. The beam shifted, passing over webbed feet and hands, then to the fins on his legs and back. He was entirely hairless, a humanoid fish essentially, and dressed in a pair of a black, skintight spandex shorts.

Aware of her rapidly decreasing oxygen, she held out her hand and felt Radha press her Swiss army knife into her palm. She flipped out the switchblade and swam into the thicket of kelp. She grabbed the slippery strands and sliced through them, seeing her best friend unwind the others binding a leg. After a moment, the med-student pointed upwards and kicked towards the surface.

She kept working, and her lungs began to burn.

The kelp on his left arm and leg were done; she was nearly through with the one on his right leg. Radha came back quickly – _Goddamn you, Rad.. You didn't get nearly enough air, did you? – _and ripped at the ones on his arm. The cast net was soon being unrolled and they pushed him into it, tying like a sack at the top.

_We need to get outta here. _She glanced at Radha, who kept tracing squiggles in front of herself. _This is the single stupidest thing ever – I mean, jeez! We don't even know what this guy is!_

Right there, Radha punched her in the arm. Then she mimed twirling a lasso, and then, driving.

_Quit miming and __**go get air!**_

Radha scowled at her, and hurriedly repeated her pantomime. Katie stared, and after a beat, blinked and kicked towards the surface.

She hit the ground running, wheezing and knotting a length of rope from the trunk to the Element's trailer hitch. She threw the remaining twenty yards into the water, and after uncovering the key from the sand, gunned the engine and backed the Element to the water's edge.

"Thank you, my inner pack rat," She muttered, and prayed the rope was long enough.

* * *

_C'mon Katie! This guy's heavy.. _

Radha was still underwater, gripping the top of the cast net and attempting to keep the odd fish-man from being swallowed any further by the ocean. She glanced down and felt increasingly grateful for the steep coastal shelf dipping into the sea. Her gaze shifted from the waters to the one in the net, and she took a moment to watch him curiously. He seemed…melancholy almost..

_Wonder where you came from… _she mused, smiling despite the burning in her lungs. She told herself to be patient, thankful that they were pack rat enough to keep twenty-eight yards of rope in their apartment. _…I mean, were you always in the Atlantic? Or did you come from somewhere else?_

There was no answer. She hadn't expected one.

Something brushed against the top of her head and she stared at the snake of thick rope drifting lazily above her. She grabbed it and tied it securely around the top of the cast net. She yanked as she could on it, and clutched it like the lifeline it was. She glanced down at the fish-man in the net, her curiosity piqued.

_…I shouldn't ask what you are, though that's a pretty good question._

Her lungs were on fire. The rope began to move upwards, slowly then swiftly. She let herself float up a little with it.

_Maybe, what I mean to ask is…_

The rope was moving faster; she could the weak rasp of it against the sand, feel her body drift up toward the setting sun.

_…Who are you?_

Then, the gentlest caress against her mind. And a quiet, odd, dulcet voice with it.

_+Believe me, you'll know in time.+_

She blacked out.


	2. Icytho Sapien

2

Icytho Sapien

* * *

"Actually, this seems to be the basic need of the human heart in nearly every great crisis - a good hot cup of coffee,"

**— Alexander King**

* * *

_Sweet flaming shit. I'm alive._

That was Radha's first thought upon waking. Or thoughts, perhaps. Either way, she was alive, bodily intact and generally well. If not for the fact, that wherever she happened to be was a very sterile place indeed.

The walls were disturbingly white, with the lower halves covered in gleaming 6x6 inch ceramic tiles. The sheets matched the walls, cottony and freshly starched things. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, grimacing at the chill of – well, more tile. And it was also white.

"Okay, this is freaky," She muttered, reminded of her workplace. There was a sharp pain in her wrist and she stared at the length of clear tubing fed into her vein. Her eyes followed its curved path to the IV in the corner, a large pouch secured to the rolling and claw-footed metal stand. She ripped off the bandage and gauze, knotting the tube around itself. "…Really, really freaky."

She trailed a hand down her arm, unsettled that she was no longer in her two-piece, but in the same sort of coarse disposable gown that she had and her coworkers gave patients. She squirmed, feeling the papery material brush against her skin. _Itchy, itchy, itchy….!_

For lack of anything else, she tugged and smoothed the bedcovers. The harsh light spilling over the room bounced off everything, hurting her eyes; the wall to her left and the one in front of her, were shinier than other two. And she could swear, there was a rounded sort of raised molding there…

"A door?"

She stepped forward and let her fingers lightly trace the side. It felt gummy, but hard. Like plastic in some strange way, but softer – as if whoever designed it made sure you wouldn't hurt yourself on it. She kicked it; at first, it remained hard, but gradually yielded to the pressure, conforming around her small foot like putty or clay.

"Okay. This is officially one messed up joint," She muttered, pulling her foot loose. Her fingertips found a tiny hollow where the doorknob would normally be, just big enough for her pinky. Radha wriggled the finger into the hole. "Eh?"

The surface was doughier now; she dug her whole hand into the wall. After a long while, she unearthed a panel. It gleamed like the white wall it was set into, hardening as it emerged, trimmed chrome; it hung limply out of its hole, suspended by the fat cord of cables and wiring. She peered at it.

"A keypad?" She brightened, and grinned. "Hey, maybe if I try enough times, I can get outta this freaky cubicle!"

She punched a chain of zeroes into the pad. Its aqua numbers remained unchanged, and then it flashed a glaring crimson.

"Okay, all right… So the all-zeroes thingy's a little _too_ obvious," She murmured. "What about the all-ones one?"

That one didn't work either. Or the all-twos, or the all-threes; eventually, she had used up all the consecutive number codes she knew, and resorted to random combinations.

"..Okay, how about one-six-nine-eight?" It flashed red. She frowned. "Uh, two-seven-seven-four?"

It turned red again.

"I. Want. Out." She groused, spinning to face the blank slate that was the other side of the room. Radha glowered half-heartedly at the keypad. She could feel her head throbbing... "Geez, c'mon, I need coffee!"

Frustrated and beginning to suffer from withdrawal (she figured it only set in now, because of the macchiato she had yesterday before picking up the groceries) she rapidly keyed all in the numbers, zero to nine, backwards. Then forwards. Then vertically up the rows, and vertically down. Then it was horizontally across them, back and forth.

She about-faced and set her jaw angrily. "Jeez! I don't even know where I am! Or where's Katie! Or have my clothes!" She threw her hands up and noticed her bare wrist. "Or even my fuckin' watch! I need coffee to deal with this! Or at least those little caffeine pills, dammit!"

She swiveled to face the keypad and its barely there door, and noticed something. "Why are you green?" She demanded of the keypad.

_Access granted,_ said a voice tonelessly. Her eyes bugged out.

_Not _another_ disembodied voice in my head! Wait, what happened to the other one..?_

Before she could ponder that further, the door whooshed open. She stared then whooped and bolted through.

"Beat ya!" Radha crowed. She looked around, seeing a line of cubicles against the walls; her gaze locked onto the number above the threshold, memorizing it. "I'm gonna stick whoever put me in here inside with a bomb. Yeah, one rigged to go in two seconds!"

* * *

With that thought floating around her head, the young PA set off. And after a long period of walking about, she was pretty damn sick of white.

"Gotta find my stuff, gotta find Katie," She muttered. "Gotta find stuff, find Katie, get coffee... Yeah... The coffee…"

Radha continued on like that, vehemently mumbling under her breath. At one point, she passed a large row of brilliant silver lockers. She stopped dead and stared at her reflection. "Man, I look like I went through hell and back..."

Boy, did she ever. The girl that was her reflection had the beginnings of dark circles under her eyes, long and wavy black hair spilling in matted tangles to her shoulders. Her light brown skin was shiny and caked with dirt, her lower lip split and half-healed. She frowned, passing a hand along her oval face, and found a small bruise just below her right ear.

"At least it's nothing too serious," She murmured. She pulled her small fingers through her hair, grimacing as they pulled apart a particularly large knot. Radha returned her dark gaze to the lockers, zeroing on the number corresponding to the room she'd been. "Aha! Now, if there was only a bloody _shower _somewhere..."

Another round of stalking the room (which by now, she'd determine to be some sort clinic/quarantine zone) and she did indeed, find wash-racks.

Once she scrubbed herself raw of the filth, she broke into the locker, not unlike how she had freed herself of that damn white room. She scowled at the rumpled state of her clothes and opted for the emergency pair in her bag.

"Jeez… The swimsuit soaked 'em through…" Radha muttered as she pulled her hair into a high ponytail. She rolled the damp clothes up, folding the bundle, and stuffed into the Zip-Loc her spare outfit had been inside. "At least this way, it won't get the bag wet..."

Now clad in short-sleeved hooded jacket, a dark green tank and another pair of jeans, Radha popped a handful of chocolate-covered coffee beans into her mouth before she set off. She went around chewing them, now searching for an exit. The same way she broke out of the room and into the locker, she used to open the doors.

Halfway through her search, she found little hallway winding further down. Thinking that she might find her best friend here, the PA warily poked her head around the threshold and stepped in. the space was the largest yet, almost cavernous in its sheer size. While it retained the increasingly aggravating palette of white and grey, Radha was relieved to sheer more chrome in here. Hell, she was even happy to see the manila folders, with their brightly colored, hooked little tabs.

The more she walked, however, the more unease pooled in the pit of her belly. The room was lined with pillars, large cylindrical tanks stacked inside. Each was emblazoned with a barcode; she passed her hand over the chilled Plexiglas, and it lit up a blackish sapphire. She could see figures silhouetted inside them, shrouded in a thin, hazy mist.

What frightened her was how unfamiliar some of them were, and to quell her nerves, she munched more of the beans. She would crane her neck to see them, and they reached to the very ceiling of the strange, sunken room. She trailed a hand along the front of one far, far in the rear; a webbed hand rose slowly meet hers, and the two would have been touching if hadn't been for the door.

Radha furrowed her brow, head cocked. _Wait a second…_

The webbed fingers wiped away the mist on the door's inside, forming little window of sorts. She could see a face now, large dark eyes gazing out at her. She couldn't tell the color, whether it was blue or black or even brown, but they shone like fresh ink, like she remembered. And yet, as lovely as she found them, they seemed impossibly melancholy. Just like the slight smile that curved the strange fish-man's mouth.

"Y-you're – you're that guy…" The young PA stammered. Her hand swept away the fog underneath it. "The one Katie and I found! At the beach!"

"I hadn't meant to frighten you," His voice flowed like a river over stones, smooth and easy. A soothing and melodious sound, oddly. "When I used my telepathy."

"Well, you _did _startle me…" She murmured, trying to lighten her voice. It barely complied. "Not too smart when someone's underwater,"

"I want to thank you. For getting me out of there,"

Her gaze flitted to his gills. "But, with those you can't drown. Right?"

"Not in water, no."

"Well, you'll have to thank Katie too," Radha insisted, crossing her arms. She frowned slightly. "If I _find_ Katie…"

"Katie?"

"She's my best friend-slash-sister," The petite girl grinned. She looked at the door, considering. "The one who probably rescued us. And I'm Radha."

He didn't know why but he liked it. He filed it away somewhere in his head. "Abraham."

"Hrm?"

"My name," He explained, gently. Both of his hands now rested on the glass, his dark eyes gazing out at her. "Is Abe Sapien."

"Ah, sorry. When I think of Abraham, I think of Lincoln," She tapped her chin, thoughtful. "So, Abe…Can you only breathe water?"

Abe cocked his head. He thought a moment, silent. "No. I can breathe air, if for a limited time." He looked at her, wary. "Why?"

"Be patient, and don't read my mind or anything. I'll get you out of there."

He watched her attempts. Then he spotted the bag of beans, knotted and poking out of her bag. "What are – ?"

She smiled at him, and picked up the plastic sack. She brandished it. "Oh, just my temporary fix. I'm a caffeine addict."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, get between me and my coffee and _die_," She was smiling, but it was close-mouthed. "I'm a Starbucks regular – particularly when they're with Barnes and Noble."

"Ah, so you're a reader?"

"Bookworm and damn proud."

And as she worked, they talked. And the more they talked, the more they found in common. And so it went, for the longest time.


	3. Meetings

3

Meetings

* * *

Houses are built to live in, not look on

**—**** Francis Bacon, Sr.**

* * *

"Y'know, you never did tell me why you did it, Dad."

There was the sound of papers being shuffled and leafed through. Her father glanced up at her briefly, then back down to the documents in his hands. "Why I did what, Katie?"

The freelance writer turned away from the bay window overlooking the grounds. A manicured hand with nails trimmed short, gestured to the sunken tray ceiling overhead. Katie chewed her lower lip a moment, heaving a sigh. "…This place, Dad. What could you possibly need a six story building for?"

"Katie…"

"I'm serious! Didn't know you could even afford to renovate, much less build another place!" She paused, frowning a moment. "…I dunno, it just seems weird..."

"It isn't always just me, Katie," He replied. The papers were clipped and dropped into a drawer; a _thunk! _sounded as it was shut, strangely loud. "Those rooms _are _used… Or, were…"

"Were?" Katie's frown deepened. The hand was on her hip now, and she cocked her head curiously. "Okay… What about the med-bay, Dad? Or that weirdass – room you put that fish guy in?"

There was quiet, then a sigh. He smiled at her a little, getting to his feet. He leaned against the desk a bit. "…The room – it was built for situations like that."

"Huh? For fish people?"

He chuckled. "In a way. C'mon, sit down. You had to find out eventually…"

* * *

"Got it!" Radha crowed.

Abe chuckled as the door sealing in him in slid off and up the tube, its hydraulics groaning and hissing audibly. Water sloshed noisily out, spilling over the threshold and onto the snow-colored ceramic, pooling in the grout lines. "…That certainly was lengthy."

She grinned sheepishly. The young PA rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. "Ehehe… I was sorta – wingin' it, y'know… But it worked! You're free!"

"Of the tube, yes…"

"True, we gotta find a way outta this basement," The petite girl muttered; she yanked the claw clip dangling from her shirt off. She looked thoughtful as she pinned her wavy hair up messily. "But I gotta find Katie first…"

"Katie?"

"My best friend," Radha informed Abe as they started off. His webbed feet made a wet slapping noise against the tile. "But she's kinda more like my sister. You an' me, we owe here big time I think,"

"Ah, yes. You asked her to get us away from the beach; I believe she drove us here…"

"You think so?" The PA threw him a curious look. She frowned a bit, having resumed her munching of the chocolate-covered coffee beans. "Why?"

"I – erm, sensed her…" He spotted her expression, then chuckled softly. "I'm psychic."

"…That explains a lot," She linked her arms behind her head, looking thoughtful. Radha found herself chuckling softly. "I thought I had really gone nuts! I mean, voices in my head?"

"And it never occurred to you," Abe's voice was amused and light. It was surprising to her how friendly he was. Or how friendly _she_ was, really. "I might be a telepath?"

"Telepaths are – well, they're _uncommon_, y'know!" Her voice came out more indignant than it should have. She fidgeted with her hair. "Especially fish-men ones…"

He chuckled again and they continued wandering the apparent basement, her increasingly irate with the endless expanses of white. On occasion, they found small patches of color – Post-Its and dry-erase boards scribbled on in brilliant reds and blues, the odd pair of folded scrubs on a chrome trolley or teal gurney. She brightened significantly, seeing these and her mood went sky-high after they discovered a corridor with a large orange-and-blue stripe, leading to a flight of stairs; light filtered through the small windows.

"Hey! Door," She pointed as she scurried for it. "I think it leads to the ground level! Sunlight's comin' through it!"

"You're sure?" He could see the sunlight too, though and was all ready following. Abe looked for a keypad, convinced the doors were locked like all the others on this floor. "Are they even open?"

She backed up a handful of meters. "Gonna find out."

"What are you doing? You'll hurt yourself."

"I want out. I hate white spaces!"

Saying so, she took the running start and barreled into the doors. They flew noisily open as she took the stairs two at time; she didn't know if Abe was behind her and didn't stop until she got to the ground level.

"Whoa…"

The door to the basement opened into a large rotunda, the medium-toned hardwood floors gleaming brightly. The unadorned walls were framed by extra-large moldings, painted a safe and neutral acorn-hue. She wandered to the left, head craned back as she took in the white-washed cathedral ceilings with their chunky beams and trusses. She found a family room with the standard arrangement of a sofa, chairs and coffee table; all focused on an impressive fireplace of stacked stone, a flat screen mounted over the immense mantle. Glancing around, she found a kitchen with a cozy, octagonal little eating nook; her stomach rumbled as her gaze flickered from the creamy white Silestone topping the warm auburn-hued cabinetry to the large fridge.

_This place is nice. _Really_ nice. _She eyed the fridge, debating whether or not to pilfer some bottled water. Or even an ice cube. She was thirsty, admit. And really, really hungry. Chocolate-covered coffee beans only did so much for her appetite. They had actually begun to make her rather jittery too; her hands shook slightly more than usual. _Wonder how Katie knew about it? _

Before she could settle her debate about the fridge and its possible stores of bottled liquid goodness, though, she heard a faint slapping of footfalls on the hardwood. "..You're – certainly faster than I thought…"

She noted his gills, flaring and flexing as he slumped against a beefy stone column. _His breathing's labored…_ "Well, these short legs can when they gotta. Caffeine helps oodles too," she frowned at him. "You okay, Abe?"

"Just – been out of water," He gulped for more air, and it didn't help. He tried for a reassuring look as she at last pulled open the fridge's double doors. "Too long…"

Radha frowned as she peered inside, spying two bottles of Zephyrhills tucked in the rear. A large box of Domino's pizza – meat lover's, apparently, she smelled more than just pepperoni. She went on her tippy-toes and _stretched_. Her fingertips skimmed the top of one and she yanked it free. "…Can get the other later. Abe, c'mere."

"You'll warp the floors," He informed her, but approached anyway. Dire need of oxygen-via-water aside, he seemed slightly amused, and a bit surprised. Both shone in his inky eyes as she wrenched open the bottle. "These detest water."

"There's a pantry," She glanced up at him, then clambered onto the island. Radha saw the surprise override his amusement. She grinned. "You're _really _tall, Abe. Especially compared to me,"

He opened his mouth to try and dissuade her, but the protest was quickly drowned out by the rushing and splashing of water. There was a squelching noise under his feet, some of it puddled there and he looked at the petite girl as she ran to retrieve the other one.

"…You at least plan to mop this up, don't you?"

"Yes, no," She quickly hopped onto the island again and emptied the other bottle. He grimaced as the puddle grew larger. "Maybe so. Either way, I pulled your fishy ass out of Manhattan beach for a _reason_, Abe. And it wasn't so you'd die from dehydration or whatever you were suffering from,"

He blinked at her. "You know… By all rights, most people _would_ have let me.."

"I'm not most people. For one, I'm shorter than average person," The PA informed him. She was making for the pantry, where she'd seen the handle of a mop. "Two, I have no antidrug; I'm an addict. To coffee, at least…"

That seemed to remind her of the beans still in her pocket and she popped a handful into her mouth. She mopped up the puddle.

"You're going to dehydrate yourself if – "

"Abe, if you're gonna chastise me, do it as we walk?" Radha took off, again faster than he expected. She was power-walking in his opinion. "I think I hear Katie…"

"The one you were looking for?"

"Yeah, c'mon." She emptied the bag of beans in her hand, shoveling them into her mouth. Something in the back of her mind chattered about highs and crashes and withdrawal; she ignored it. "I gots questions to ask 'er,"

"You have questions to ask her, you mean.." He was following only; he'd thrown out the empty bottles, first. "And how are you so sure?"

No answer.

"Radha? Radha, do you hear me?" Feeling as if he were talking to brick wall – or Hellboy, though sometimes there wasn't a difference – he sped up. "Radha?"

* * *

"…So, these people," Katie began, brow furrowed as she snapped at her fingers. There was a faint something there, bright little flash as her thumb and finger whisked past. "Asked you to do this?"

"Build this house, yes." Her father had noticed the flash too, and was watching her hand. "You might have heard of them – the BPRD. Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense."

"Feds say it's an urban myth," She muttered. Her hand was getting tired; no wonder it hadn't before. She'd been at this since the spark first appeared when the Element pulled into the driveway. She took small breaks, but.. "Like Bigfoot or aliens or something.."

"The feds are just doing their job," He turned to the window, gazing out at the rolling landscape. Summer was at its end, waning to give way to the maturity and warmth of autumn. "I mean, imagine if people knew? There'd be sheer panic; they're paranoid enough with each other, Katie,"

"No shit," The journalist muttered under her breath, a knee pulled up to her chest. The other dangled, her sneaker scuffing the floor. "Why you, though? Why'd they pick you to build them this safe house?"

"Hell if I know," He shrugged and glanced to her. She was still snapping her fingers, quite stubbornly too. "I guess picking a regular guy to do this sort of thing… It made sense to them; everyone thinks government agents wear Secret Service suits and ears and mikes and sunglasses…"

Katie tried to picture her dad like that, and smothered a chuckle. "...Okay, that's one. It was a safe house for the agents and everybody, yak-yak. But was – that's past tense,"

He shrugged again. "They don't need it anymore. Something about there being a vast reduction of numbers and stuff. They gave me enough money to compensate – enough to buy this lot a hundred times over. So I took it and upgraded some things in here,"

"And?" She prompted, privately miffed they'd the gall to just tell him 'Oh, it's not needed anymore. But thanks anyway.' _At least they compensated him for it…_ "What'd you do with it instead?"

"Made it as a place for my fellow vets," Was his reply as he strode back to his desk to shuffle more papers. "Help them recuperate, get used to civilian life – they could rent a room for $300 a month, not a bad bargain given,"

"But this place is freakin' _deserted_, Dad," Katie noticed her hands, sore now, had begun sweating. She frowned and vigorously wiped them on the cognac cotton of the winged armchair. "Did they all leave or what?"

"Basically. I'm not sure what to do with it," He was sitting again, now looking thoughtful. "I could sell it – this place would fetch one helluva pretty penny. Especially with all the bells and whistles it's got,"

"Like the ones in the basement," His daughter's tone was dry, her mouth curved into a broad grin. As he moved to reply, there was a smart _rap-rap! _at the door. _I know that knock…_

"Yo! Katie! Knock-knock, crazy," The door swung open, revealing a petite young woman, dark hair pinned up with an oversized claw clip. She tugged at her short-sleeved jacket; an empty bag of chocolate-covered coffee beans poked up out of her jeans' pocket. "You had me worried! Where were ya?"

"Radha, don't you think you should – ?"

"…You talk," Katie gawked a bit, looking over her best friend's shoulder at the fish man. She glanced at Radha, frowning. "The fish talks?"

"Vocally and mentally, actually," Abe smiled when Katie jumped, looking at him. He waved a little, then glanced at the shortest in the room. "You should have waited a little longer, you know,"

"Yeah, yeah… I got impatient.." Radha's eyes flickered over the room, drinking it in and settled on Katie's father, who was leaning against his desk as he watched them. Her mind blanked a second, then brought the old photo Katie kept on her desk. "…Mr. Morris?"

"So, you're the one she mentioned, huh?" Radha's previously exuberance had cooled quickly and he extended a hand to shake. Her hands looked jittery for some reason, but her grasp was firm, if quick. "Her best friend, her roommate.."

"Guilty as charged, sir. Sorry for what went on just a sec ago, but – well, you'd freak out too, if you woke up in a freaky white room and didn't where you were,"

"Be glad to remedy that," He gestured to the seats, upholstered in warm brown. "There's just two, but.."

"You sit," Abe told the PA softly in an undertone. Seeing her look, he chuckled. "It's no trouble."

"Right," Radha sat, fingers drumming atop her thigh as she crossed her ankles. She let out a small 'oof!' as Katie elbowed her. "Ow, hey, that's _sore _Katie,"

"Sorry, but listen? Dad's gonna explain everything," Katie eyed Abe, who had taken up standing nearby and was humming a few bars of something under his breath. Classical music if she was right; Radha played whenever she studied. "Sans fish-man,"

So, they sat and listened and Radha managed to not fidget. Then, when all was said and done, they went and toured the property.


	4. Vigilante

4

Vigilante

* * *

"This must be Thursday," said Arthur musing to himself, sinking low over his beer, "I never could get the hang of Thursdays."

**—****The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy****, Douglas Adams**

* * *

"This is certainly a large home.. Or mansion,"

Katie grinned as she popped a slice of the Domino's pizza into the microwave, turning to see Radha and Abe craning their necks to look around. "Major understatement; plus, Dad's signin' it over to _me_, Rad! Me!"

"Yay for you," The darker girl bit out. Katie scowled but let it go; after eating so many coffee beans and being trapped in that room, she'd been truthfully surprised by her roommate's good cheer. So, bitching was to be expected, especially since the PA was currently suffering a very nasty caffeine crash.

"Cheer up, will ya? You're gonna live here too," The journalist poured herself some soda, then went hunting in the freezer drawer for a frozen meal or something for her sister. _Aha. Three cheese ravioli! Perfect!_ "Abe too, if he wants,"

"Me?" The fish-man blinked at her. He cocked his head curiously, looking baffled. "That's quite gracious of you, but…"

"But what? It's huge, like Rad said before her mood went south," She dumped the ravioli into a nonstick pot and filled it with water. She cranked the heat on the cook top to high. "We need people to fill this place up,"

"My friends will be worried about me," He explained, as Radha attempted to take a nap on the couch. Attempted was the key word; the caffeine still lingered, even though she'd crashed all ready, and she couldn't doze off. "I have to at least get in contact…"

"They can live here," Was the med-student's opinion as she sat up, leaning on the couch's arm. She looked around again, frowning. "Kate, this joint needs a makeover,"

"You've been watching HGTV again, haven't you?"

"I'm serious! This stuff is nice and all, but…" She poked at the old beat-up couch a bit, and shrugged. She gestured a bit aimlessly and vaguely. "Well, it's bland."

"True…" Katie tended the ravioli with a black plastic slotted spoon. She eyed the stuffed pasta and tipped in a bit of olive oil. _So they won't stick. Sticky pasta equals yech. Or a sore jaw. _"Whaddaya got in mind, oh-shortass-design-guru?"

Abe hid a chortle behind a webbed hand as Radha shot a look at the journalist.

"Paint the walls and molding – white's best, makes 'em pop better,"

"White walls?"

"No! White molding, dammit," The PA pointed to where the wall met the ceiling. She jabbed in that direction as the water came noisily to a boil. "Molding. As for walls.. Green."

"Why green?" Abe queried good-naturedly.

"Because."

"She likes green," Katie informed him as the microwave chirruped at her. She retrieved her pizza and took a bite. _Mm, melty cheese and pepperoni… _"A lot."

"Hush." Radha turned a critical eye to the family room as the other two exchanged amused looks. "A sectional – stone-colored, L-shaped so we won't need chairs. Roman shades would be great for here and the kitchen,"

"Nice, but…" Katie arched a brow and shook her head, munching as she thought. "Ain't that gonna be expensive? Overhaulin' the house? I mean, we don't make _that_ much!"

"Perhaps the frugal thing would be to take things slowly," the fish-man suggested, seeing Radha's frown and crossed arms. "Update one at a time."

"We've been frugal for two years," Radha muttered, sighing. She shrugged, then threw up her hands. "Ah, well. For now, I plot my design ideas."

"And I keep you from goin' overboard. Now, get over here, your pasta's done,"

* * *

Once they were all fed and relatively happy, night had fallen. Katie went out to the back, navigating through the lush flora and fauna. She could hear the low roar of the ocean all ready, and inhaled the salty air. She knew Radha would be worried about her and that was the PA's nature – if you were important, she worried. And if you really worried her, she'd chew you out and mother you to death.

And Katie really did find that touching and very sweet, but for now… For now, she just needed to be somewhere without her sister. Somewhere like this, where she could think and mull over the days' events in peace.

"Man…" She sighed, kicking at a rock as she descended the property's slope. She ran a hand through her short hair. "Talk about crazy… Fish people, hidden government agencies…"

Katie looked up toward the sky, watching as the first stars winked into view. She found herself picking out what little constellations Radha had taught her – the Virgin and the Lion, the symbols of their zodiac signs. She traced them with her finger as she walked, silver embroidery in the vast velveteen indigo of the heavens.

As her sandaled feet crunch onward, powdery sand slipping into the nooks and crannies of her toes, she thought of the property. It was certainly large, and rather hilly, furnished with a mix of annuals and perennials; mature trees were peppered throughout as well, the oldest being a transplanted cherry blossom tree.

"How're we gonna maintain it?" She wondered aloud to the stars. They sparkled at her as she chewed at her bottom lip. "Or the house itself?"

That was most definitely a good question. Radha had an idea of what to do with the place in terms of sprucing it up but it was so _huge_, much too large for only two people. And even with Abe and her father, the rest of the place would seem positively cavernous. They'd barely fill out the second floor; and there were six in total! Perhaps they could rent out rooms….

"Nah, it'd drive us nuts…" Katie murmured, furrowing her brow as she continued onward. She heaved another sigh. "Especially poor Abe. Me and Rad are okay with 'im, but other folks are real close-minded…"

What about a cleaning service? To help maintain the place? Or gardeners to tend to the grounds? "No, no… Too expensive, and we've got bills… Oh, jeez!" She groaned as another complication reared its ugly head. "The lease! The lease on our apartment! Crap, it's just been renewed for another four months!"

She continued along the shore that way, muttering irately under her breath. Then she spotted something vaguely human-shaped on the shoreline, just washed up. Rushing over, she tentatively pressed her index and middle fingers to the side of his neck; for moment she panicked, feeling nothing, but then a quick, slight pulse made itself known.

"Oh, hell…" She rolled the unconscious man onto his back. He was, for lack of a better term, hot. A strong jaw and sharp, handsome features coupled with the chiseled, lean body of a swimmer with a head of short rich dark hair. She could see webbing between his fingers and the toes of his bare feet. Katie bit her lip, and tore her eyes away; his eyes fluttered open briefly, focusing on her a moment, as she glanced toward the house. "Radha! Oy, Radha!"

The figure on the deck in the distance didn't move from its place in the hammock; the taller one, standing and admiring the gazebo of the covered cedar deck, did. She waved to Abe as he caught sight of her and had Radha get up. She kept waving until they both scurried over and helped her get the unconscious man into the house.

* * *

"Is he okay?" Katie found herself asking, as Radha gave the hottie – er, man a quick onceover. The PA didn't respond for a moment. "Rad?"

"..He's okay, just KO'ed," The petite young woman looked at her best friend/sister from her seat on the couch. They'd laid the youth there to rest; they all agreed that clinic in the basement – well, it was just too creepy. And cold and white. So, they put him in the living room. "You said ya found 'im? Just lying there? Near the shallows?"

"Yup, just where we got 'im,"

"He might have swallowed some of the seawater," Abe chipped in a bit concernedly. He looked thoughtful a moment. "Depending on how long he was in there,"

"That's bad, isn't it?" She looked at the med-student as the darker girl straightened and got to her feet. Katie looked between them both. "Well?"

"And you say _I _panic?" Radha queried half-teasingly, a brow quirked at her sister. She grinned at Katie's expression and shrugged. "Generally, it depends. A bit won't hurt ya, but too much might. Most people can't stand the taste and usually cough it up,"

"Usually! He's unconscious!"

"Don't you think you should get him downstairs?" Eric Morris suggested to them from where he was leaning against a column. He straightened as the pairs of eyes snapped in his direction. "Just to be safe. He might be hurt or something; we don't know what happened to him,"

"If he was hurt, wouldn't we be able to tell?" Katie frowned, a sneakered foot tapping impatiently. She cocked her head and looked at the man on the couch. "I mean, he looks fine,"

"Better not to take risks, Kate," The PA sighed as she fixed her hair, pinning it up. She brushed her bangs out of her eyes. Her tone was begrudged, reluctant. "Spooky, chilly and _way_ too white it may be – but that clinic's the best bet. He might have internal bleeding or something; not all injuries are readily visible…"

"If you say so… " The journalist didn't like it anymore than her sister, but sighed and rolled up her sleeves. "All right, Abe? Get the door for us, we're gonna try and haul him,"

"We'll put him in the room nearest to the entrance," Her father said as the girls managed to yank up the man. He grinned slightly, seeing most of the weight being carried by the taller Katie. "There's less white there; he shouldn't freak out so much,"

"Betcha we'll be needin' those sedatives I saw," Radha muttered to the fish-man. She glanced uncertainly over her shoulder as she began backing up.

He just chuckled at her. "Mind your step,"

"Yeah, don't go careenin' down the stairs," Her best friend adjusted her hold. _Damn. He's _built. She found herself peering at his abdomen as they made their way down. _Gotta six-pac – wait, that's not six… that's eight…_

"Katie! Wake up!"

"I'm awake, dammit, I'm awake," She reeled her mind out of the gutter. She scowled at the darker girl and then at the darkness in general. "…Dad! Dad, we can't see!"

"What? Oh, that's right…" There was a sharp _click! _just behind her head, off to the side. Light washed over the narrow stairs as they gingerly made their way down. "Better?"

"Sorta…"

"These are rather steep," Was Abe's opinion as he shut the door. It clanged a bit noisily. They could hear the slapping of his feet on the tile. "How old is this house?"

"Built it when Katie was eight or so, I think," Mr. Morris muttered. He glanced to his daughter. "She's around twenty-one, now, won't let me forget it..."

"So, thirteen years… Hm, not as old I thought..."

"If you thought this joint was historic, I don't blame you," Katie growled. She yelped as her head bounced against the wall as she and the PA tried to maneuver down. "Ow! Rad!"

"What, dammit?"

"When we get around to sprucin' up this place – "

"And when we've got enough money!"

"Yeah, yeah… Money, too!" _He's hot but he's heavy… Sheesh! _She grunted as they made it to a landing. A hand move to brush her hair out of her eyes. "Know what we're gonna do first?"

"Hm?"

"We are fixin' these freakin' stairs, because they're hell!"

* * *

"Okay, he's set…" Radha informed them, after helping getting the man into a bed. She gently untangled the IV cord. "That oughta keep 'im hydrated… And this room's not so freakin' white…"

This was true. There were bright splashes of blues and greens in this area, and the stripe adorning the corridor walls continued into this room. The bed itself was still white, but the linens were trimmed with grey to soften it.

"Never got around to changin' the other ones, did they?" Mr. Morris sighed. He shrugged from his place in threshold. "Ah, well… Yell at them later... C'mon, let's get upstairs. He'll be fine,"

"Just a second…"The PA punched in a series of numbers into the keypad. She grinned when it lit up crimson. "There!"

"…How did you figure out the code?"

"To be honest, trial and error."

"Much trial and error."

"Abe, be quiet."

Katie snickered – it was ridiculous how normal it sounded, and yet how strange it looked. She found a green metal chair in the hall and threw it over her shoulder. "How nice, Radha. You're _so _polite,"

"Lemme be, I need coffee…" She frowned at the journalist and the chair in tow. The petite young woman arched a brow. "…An' what the hell are you doing?"

"Moving a chair in the room?" She poked Radha in the side, smirking when the med-student squealed and jumped aside quickly. _Hah, ticklish. _"Gangway, Dad."

He obliged. "You're staying with him, Katie?"

"Yeah."

"…Why? You don't even know the dude,"

"Don't want him freakin' out when he wakes up," Katie glanced at her sister. "Like certain midgets whom I'm too kind to mention,"

"Uh-huh,"

"Are you sure you'll be fine?" Abe asked as she set the chair at the man's bedside. "We don't know how long it will be until he wakes up,"

"Yeah. He could be out for a while, y'know…"

"Eh, I'll be fine," She sat and leaned back a little. The chair rose up on its back legs a moment, and then thudded rather softly back onto the tiled floor. "Like I said, better to stay here, so he won't freak,"

"Yeah, but…"

"She'll be fine," Her father said. He glanced toward the journalist as the PA reluctantly slipped out, Abe following. "Right?"

"No prob," She grinned and linked her arms behind her head. "Hell, you guys can come and check on me if you want,"

"Gladly!"

_Sheesh. Short as hell, loud as hell Rad… Go fig. _

As her father left, shutting the door, Katie could hear Radha wondering if there was any coffee in the house ("There'd better be at least Maxwell House somewhere," She muttered irately. "You really want to drink it now? At six o'clock?" Abe queried. "Hell yes, if it means getting rid of this withdrawal shit I'm suffering,"). She snickered as the oaken door muffled their voices, and then glanced toward the still-unconscious figure on the bed.

"…Well, looks like it's just you an' me," She murmured, and rested her chin on a hand. Katie chewed her bottom lip absently. "Now, to wait…"

* * *

So, seconds stretched into minutes and minutes stretched into hours and still the man wouldn't wake. Katie herself was in the meanwhile bored to tears. Or pretty damn close; she had counted the tiles lining the wall and lost count so many times, it wasn't even funny, though it probably should have been. Either way, she was about to nap herself in bid to kill off the boredom when she heard a soft groan come from the bed and rustling a moment later.

"…W-what?" The man's voice was hoarse and rather groggy. He opened his eyes as she straightened and edge closer. He looked at her a little oddly, and then frowned. "..You're – you're that girl. The one that found me…"

"Yeah… You were unconscious an' we didn't know what was wrong with ya," She replied after a moment, trying her best not to stare. She coughed a bit. "Me and the others, that is…"

"Others?" He sounded curious.

"Radha, Abe, my dad…" Katie counted them off on her hand for the hell of it, and held up the fingers. She wriggled them at him a little. "Rad's my best friend, or my sister.. Abe – well, I guess he's sorta a friend too, but I've only known him like a day or something…"

"Ah…" He moved to get up and flinched as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He grimaced, grasping his forearm and peering at the IV. "..Huh? What's – ?"

"Oh, hell… The IV," The journalist shook her head and went over. She scowled. "Ugh. Rad put it in to keep you hydrated or something… Here, lemme help you..."

She took hold of his arm gently, frowning at the layers of gauze and clear tape beneath the adhesive that kept the tubing in place. She peeled off the topmost layer first, a sort of hard sticky plastic. "Sheesh. She really made sure it was in there… "

"Ow! Hey, that – !"

"Yeah, I know – stings like hell, huh? Sorry," Crumpling the first layers into a ball with her free hand, she managed to yank out the tube; when he hissed again in pain, she flashed him an apologetic smile. Katie spied something bright red and liquid beading from where the IV had been. "All right, hold the gauze, okay?"

He was looking around, only now noticing his surroundings. He blinked and pressed the soft net-like white cloth to his wrist. "Uh, sure. Okay."

Katie went over to the storage unit and frowned at it. So many drawers… And not a damned one was labeled. Well aside from having a large numbered and color-coded sticker. _Okay, so where would bandages be?_

"...How long do I hold this thing for?"

"Not too long." She replied absently, hitting a random button. The fifth drawer popped open, full of butterfly needles and gauges and syringes and tubes and various other accoutrements for drawing blood. _Uh, no. I want to _stop_ blood flow. Not encourage it! _She shut the drawer and hit another button; this one was filled diabetic supplies. "…Not it either."

"…Um, how long – ?"

"Just keep holding it!"

Katie kept punching different numbers, and after another seven or so bad guesses, the top drawer opened. It was filled with cotton balls, gauze, and various sizes of bandages; she grabbed a box of Band-Aids and rushed over to the man still on the bed.

"Okay, here we go!" The journalist grinned, peeling off the backing. She took the red-spotted gauze from him. She took hold of his arm again, gently pressing the Band-Aid over the relatively shallow puncture room. "Right, so – "

The young woman stopped dead, stunned into silence. When she moved back, she found both their gazes had locked – and she was treated to the sight of the most beautiful pair of dark eyes, a rich soft brown in color. Her face heated up quickly and she dropped her eyes to the bandage, smoothing it one more time. She stumbled to finish her sentence. "…Yeah, there you go!"

"…Thanks," He muttered. His other hand gripped and squeezed his wrist lightly, tone slightly confused. She balled up the trash and threw it away. "…My name's Mark."

"Mark?"

"..Yeah. Mark Renault," Mark held up a hand, managing a smile; Katie barely managed to keep herself from swooning. The spaces between his fingers were normal now; no webbing. "…Or, Sharkboy."

The journalist threw him a shy smile. "Katie Morris. You hungry, Mark? We've got a lotta food and not too many people to eat it,"

He chuckled, and nodded as he got to his feet. "Sure." He glanced down at himself a moment, frowning. "..First, though, I need a something other than spandex…."

There were some white sets of clothes sitting in the storage unit; Katie thought they were scrubs, but she wasn't sure. She darted into the hall to wait while he changed and when he finished, they set off for the kitchen, talking as they went.

* * *

Upon reaching the kitchen, Katie discovered two things. One, Mark ate only fish and perhaps the occasion vegetation. Two, Radha without her daily mug of coffee was not at all a pleasant thing. It was comparable to getting root canal done by a monkey, without anesthesia. It didn't help that the PA had tried to sate her caffeine addiction with chocolate-covered beans – and was still very much suffering from the subsequent crash.

Hence, the two girls were now in the Element, driving into Newark in search of the nearest coffee shop. Mark and Abe were back at the house; the fish-man because he didn't want to risk being sighted in the streets and the former because he was still somewhat tired. And he wanted to look around the place.

"_Turn left and continue five miles,"_ chirruped the GPS mounted on the windshield. It flashed an arrow onscreen, pointing to a large Starbucks logo. _"Then, arrive at destination."_

"See a drive-thru?"

"Uh, no." Katie peered out as the rain came in buckets, streaking across the glass. She squinted as her hand fumbled for the umbrella stowed between them. "Looks like we're gonna havta to park and head in,"

The med-student scowled fiercely, blaring the Honda's horn at a pedestrian who'd just bolted in front of them. "…Right. Lucky thing I just got paid,"

"You've got a paycheck? You cash it?"

"Yeah. ATMs, love 'em," The orange vehicle tentatively made for a spot between a pick-up and a Jeep. As she shifted into park and cut off the engine, Radha slung her beat-up satchel over shoulder, glancing up through the window. "Got lucky, we're near the entrance."

"..Don't bother with umbrella?" The journalist held it up.

"Quicker to just bolt in," Her best friend replied, thumbing through her keys. _Yay, I have my membership thingy on. Baffles me how I lost the first one... _"We're takin' your door, now, move!"

Katie squawked, managing to jam a baseball cap over her head as she was unceremoniously shoved out of the Element. She'd just regained her balance when Radha about ran her over, beelining for the café.

"…Rad! Your crazy, caffeinated ass!" She shouted, and ducked in under the awning. She wrung out what unfortunate strands of hair had gotten wet and stalked in after her best friend. She spotted her all ready in the line. "…Oy."

"Want anythin'?" The PA queried. Her dark eyes were glued to the menu, all ready tallying the cost and calories – and no matter high either mounted, Rad wouldn't care. She wanted that coffee and she wanted it now. "Don't get anythin' bigger than grande, though,"

"Why?"

"M'buyin' a bag of their premium blend," Radha held it up for her to see, grinning broadly. Her eyes were still on the menu. "Sumatra blend, whole beans."

"Rad. That stuff costs an arm and a leg," The journalist tried, appealing to the more frugal side of her sister. Normally, that wasn't too hard; the petite woman's hours often had her gaining only six or seven hours of sleep. "You'll end up pulling double shifts to afford groceries,"

"It's a splurge, yeah," She shrugged. Apparently, withdrawal overrode the common sense at the moment. "But that place doesn't even have _Maxwell House_, Kate. An American house without coffee's like one without a roof,"

"Why don't you put that back," Katie grasped the bag and tugged; she blinked at how Rad's grip tightened. "And wait 'til you've had your coffee to buy it?"

Radha stared at her.

"And get back in this serpentine thing?" She nodded toward the lengthy line. It was one of those days, the sort when the line was far longer than it had any right to be. "Nuh-uh."

"Rad, you'll end up pullin' _a double-shift!_" The taller girl ground out. She crossed her arms. "C'mon. At least get the instant stuff,"

"Instant?" The PA's blinking made it seem as if she'd forgotten there was even such a thing. She cocked her head. "Instant."

"Yeah. Pre-ground, less waiting," The journalist grinned, seeing Rad's eyes brighten at that. She gently and tentatively took the bag. "Coffee faster. Less work."

She grabbed two boxes of Starbucks VIA® and offered them to her friend. Katie chuckled at how quickly she snatched them. "And for the record?"

"Hm?"

"Get me a caramel macchiato, will ya?" She was making for the door. She spoke over her shoulder. "Extra hot, extra caramel, and – "

"Whipped cream, no foam,"

"Yes."

By this point it was there only three people ahead of Radha. The med-student frowned at Katie as the journalist opened the door, letting a small group of people in. "Where you goin', Kate?"

"There's this awesome store, I saw," Katie called. She tugged at the cap, foot tapping as she waited for the people to scurry in. "I wanna go check it out. Probably be back once you're done,"

"Hey – !"

But before she could even protest Katie had darted off.

* * *

Looking around, Katie was amazed by the size of the store. Katie was a fan of both stores and was even a member of Hot Topic's HT+1 club. She would have been a member of Spencer's club, if they had one; Rad, of course, had never set foot in either.

She looked around, hoping to see something new on the shelves to guilt Rad into getting her. Poster after poster was already on her wall. Sweater after sweater, belt after belt, shirt after shirt – all ready hanging inside her closet. Katie sighed, shoving her hands into her pockets, walking towards the back of the store.

If anything, she'd get another bag to join the dozen in the rear of her closet, seldom ever seen, and much less used. Looking at the selection, she sorted through the tops, not really registering them. Her mind meandered to Mark, and his lush dark eyes. The soft, gentle rumble of his voice and the way his brows knitted in confusion as he asked about Abe. His broad shoulders and sculpted bare torso, rippling with muscle…

Her face heated up quickly, and she hastily detoured from the train of thought. She shook her head, and sighted a Jack Skellington messenger bag on the top rack. She scowled at it, knowing she couldn't reach it, and looked around for help getting it. _Whoa, whoa. Back it up, Kathryn. You just met the guy! Even though, he _is _a total hottie… _

Katie was about to call to the girl a ways from her for help, or perhaps that plastic step ladder she was using. Then fingers curled around her bicep and yanked her back; her mouth opened, a shriek welling up in her lungs, when a hand clamped over her maw.

She feel could her heart drumming desperately in her chest, stomach bottomed out, body tensed – then, sudden serenity. It crashed over her mind like waves on a shore, sweet and whispering. The adrenaline coursing through her ebbed and she could very nearly have gone limp. A shred of her howled to her to fight, to wake up, something was _wrong_…

She felt the person holding her shift backwards, yanking her with them. She tried to cooperate and tripped over her own sneaker, crumpling to the floor. She dragged whoever had grabbed her down with her. Katie could tell by the form of the person they were male, and an extremely strong one at that. She'd gotten lucky when they fell; his hold was considerably slacker and she scrambled upright, backing toward the door. Her hand fumbled for and found the door, fingers clutching the handle's cold steel as he got to his feet.

He was tall, lean and lithe but corded with sinew. He looked just a few years older than Katie, yet there was something strange in his eyes that spoke of centuries. Honey-hued tresses fell messily into his face, warming pale, porcelain skin; dark eyes peered from the blonde strands. Katie stepped forward to offer a hand to the male ('_Help him up_' murmured that too-sweet voice in its lulling way) and the door was kicked in.

The voice was silenced, blotted out and away as surprise flooded her senses. She let loose a faint _oof! _as she was knocked off her feet, staggering. Katie lost her balance, falling forward onto the man.

_Dammit. Lucky day for me._ Katie groaned, feeling the blonde's hand on her arm as he stood up. She tried to pull away, but he had a death grip on her.

"Who the hell are you?" She felt the blonde's chest vibrate against her cheek and fingers. The sound was low, guttural. He was growling.

_The hell is this kid...?_ Katie thought, trying to take in a breath.

"I'm the one that's going to kick your ass into next summer." The newcomer's voice was quite a bit higher than her supposed captor's – likely, since he wasn't growling.

"Okay, obviously, I'm kinda losing my life here," She bit out gratingly; her head spun dizzyingly. She clenched her teeth, stifling a groan. "So… Your choice. Him or me."

"Really? And what could a measly human like you do to someone as powerful as me?" Laughter. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest, hear it in his voice.

_Why you…!_

She felt something boil up, hot and fierce, as her eyes narrowed dangerously. She snapped her fingers, hearing a sharp _click!_ A flame flickered to life between her index and middle digits. She willed it larger and it blossomed into a sphere, licking at the cotton of the man's shirt, searing through to his skin. He dropped her instantly, spewing hissed profanities through clenched teeth.

Katie landed in an unceremonious heap; agony pierced her rage as her ankle twisted in a way it wasn't meant to. She gritted her teeth, gasping in pain. _Fuck. Landed bad on it…_

"Are you okay?" She felt a hand on her arm and turned, uncaring of whom it was. It was the man who'd burst in the closet.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Go worry about him."

He gave her a look, but shook his head and went after the man. Outside, she could hear shouts and mayhem. She could hear scuffling and found the door's threshold as she hauled herself upright. Katie watched idly as the flame smoldered, oddly fascinated by the vermillion glow of the embers against the man's black shirt. She remembered the strange lulling wave of calm and how the fire had budded in her hand.

"This is freaking nuts..." she grumbled, and balanced on one foot as the panic outside raged. Her mind flashed to Radha and she _groaned. _"…Sheesh! Rad's gonna lose it,"


	5. Chaos

5

Chaos

* * *

All of us are crazy in one way or another.

**—**** Yiddish proverb**

* * *

"Ooh, my head,"

Katie was currently sprawled on the couch, her leg propped up on a stack of overstuffed throw pillows. Something about it needing to be elevated, that's what her best friend had blabbered about. She eyed the splint on it, privately glad that she'd simply pulled a muscle and not broken it. She did, however, wish this incessant headache would go away…

"Oy…" She called. Her voice rang weaker than usual, to her great chagrin, soft and subdued. Mark looked up at her, startled out of his thoughts. "Can you get me some Advil, Mark?"

"Advil?"

"Yeah, painkiller. For m'head," The journalist blew her hair out of her eyes, idly. Her hand gestured vaguely to the cabinetry. "Check – by the pantry, I think. Should be there,"

"Right." He got to his feet, still garbed in the all-white ensemble he'd found in the basement, and went to rifle through. "That aside…"

"I'm fine. Leg should be, too," She rolled her shoulder a bit, using her arm to push herself upright. She reclined a bit, back pressed to the armrest. Glacier-blue eyes flickered over muscled, toned arms and she took particular notice of his biceps. _Head shall keep out of gutter…_ "Rad says it's not broken; just pulled something is all,"

"Just pulled something?" He'd found the bottle of Advil, and shaken out two of the gel capsules onto a napkin. He filled a glass with water and handed it to her.

"Yup. Got lucky,"

As she downed the pills, Mark perched on the other end of the couch, sitting on the armrest. He looked at her a bit concernedly. "I'll say – what was with that guy, anyway?"

"Hell if I know," She shrugged and tried to keep from staring at him. She twiddled her thumbs a bit, idle. If they listened hard enough, they could hear Radha ranting in the clinic below… "But he's gotten real quiet now. Rad's been yelling for nearly an hour straight – I'm surprised her voice hasn't given out!"

Mark snickered a little. He quieted after a moment, both of them watching the television infomercials for weight-loss cures. "…So, why'd you do it?"

"Huh?"

"Help me. Get me out of the water?"

She blinked at him. "…Well, it seemed like the right thing to – hey, weren't you unconscious then?"

"Erm… Not really?" He flushed a bit, seeing her confusion. Mark shrugged at her. "I was sorta half-awake…"

_Well. Guess the fact he recognized me in the clinic shoulda clued me in sooner… _ "..Oh. Anyway, was there any reason I shouldn't have? I mean, couldn't just leave ya there – right?"

"…Huh." He favored her with a warm, if slight smile. Her heart fluttered at it as he shook his head, laughing slightly. "..So – that girl downstairs, your best friend?"

"Yup. Radha, the mouthy midget."

Mark chuckled. He paused, thinking. "She seems really protective…"

"Heh. That's her, yeah. Won't stand for anyone screwin' with the important people in her life," Katie chuckled and then they both winced when said midget's yelling hit a particularly high pitch. "…Ow."

"…Uh-huh." He shook his head briefly, and then noted her bag propped against the couch. He gestured to it. An overstuffed binder, overflowing loose sheets of paper, poked out. "Anyway, what's that…?"

The young pyrokinetic reached over, arm straining slightly, and then plucked it up. She flipped it open to a completed article, a culinary one. "My notebook. I write for a living,"

"Can I see? Just curious." He was all ready moving closer to look.

"Hehe. Yeah, sure."

She handed it to him, fumbling slightly with the heavy notebook; his hand brushed against hers as he took hold of it. Katie felt her face heat up and she glanced away a moment, then flashed him a bright smile.

For a moment, she couldn't read his expression – then, he grinned back and leafed through the book. "…So, writer, huh?"

"Yeah, freelance."

"Freelance?"

"What it takes. Nothing really specific..."

"Ah…"

* * *

"Vampire? You honestly expect me to believe that?"

The words rang loud and harsh, the tone skeptical and cool. Radha leveled a glower at the blonde man sitting shirtless on the bed. His left side was colored a bright red, the same hue as a cooked lobster, splotchy and somewhat swollen. The skin was blistered, but most of was only superficial; an isolated blot near the man's shoulder was the worst, and it was a tiny second-degree burn.

The blonde scowled slightly, averting his eyes. "…I thought you might. Especially with that other fellow around – the fish one..."

"Abe's Abe," She informed him shortly, glancing to the washcloth she held to his shoulder. She'd wrapped an ice pack in it, in lieu of simply soaking the large swatch of cotton in water. _Ah, good. Swelling's gone down. _Satisfied by that improvement, she moved the packed further down to the front of his ribs. She eyed the crescent-shaped marks briefly. _All these scars… Makes you wonder what happened to this guy…_

"Wouldn't it be faster to just apply the compress itself?" He said after a stretch of silence. His dark eyes flickered toward her. "The cloth's in the way."

"Risk of temperature drop's too big," Radha replied. The pack edged to the left, still feeling very much like a block of ice. "Too much cold on a burn could cause damage,"

"..Oh." It came out as a mutter, soft and quiet.

"…So. Say, you were a vampire – what were you doin' out in the mall?"

"I told you that all ready."

She arched a brow at him, espresso eyes flickering up. She cocked her head, looking curious. "Yeah, feeding. Care to elaborate?"

"…My family and I, we're what you could call vegetarian vampires," He saw her expression and shrugged with one-shoulder. His tone grew sheepish. "We feed only on animal blood, instead of people."

"Ahh…" the compress was dropped and she got to her feet. The swelling was mostly gone now, nothing that warranted the ice pack anymore. "Stands to reason, you'd be in a pasture then,"

"I should have been. I would have been." The blonde sighed and cast his gaze downward. He shook his head. "…But I've never had the best control. Just the scent – "

"Drives you bonkers, huh?"

"…Yes. I didn't really mean to hurt her; I was just so hungry,"

Radha had found some gauze; she was securing it to his side now with little strips of clinical tape. "Just wanted food? That's it?"

"..That's it," He affirmed. He flexed his hand and licked his lips momentarily; before the medic had been let into the room, an older man had let him eat. A frugal move on their part, but he wondered where they'd gotten the cow's blood. The man had said from a butcher shop, but still. The blonde looked at the petite woman. "You don't sound so – well, that is…"

"…Angry?" Radha asked, finally allowing a faint smile. She shook her head and loosely wrapped a bandage. She snipped off more tape to keep that secure over the gauze. Her tone gentled, softened. "No. I'm not. Not anymore."

"…I could understand why." He murmured as she straightened. He eyed the dressing out of the corner of his eye curiously. "No one would want their friend as someone's supper,"

"Sister."

"Hm?"

"She's my sister," The raven-haired girl clarified. Her smile grew at the confusion in his dark gaze; it was her turn to shrug. "No one said we had to be related."

He thought of his family. The blonde returned her smile after a moment; the little tension that had been there was gone. "..That they didn't,"

"My name's Radha." She locked the drawers of supplies, and fixed her bun. She glanced at him, patient as she used her newfound claw clip to pin up her hair. "Yours?"

"Jasper Hale." Jasper paused a moment, opening his mouth and then shutting it. He kept at this for a moment and a half. "…About what happened – "

"Yeah?"

"I'll – I'll need a place to stay. I'm quite a ways from home and…"

"I'll run it by Kate's dad. See what he says; from what I see though," Radha chuckled. The door swung open and her foot nudged in the wedged stopped. "No reason you shouldn't."

"Thank you. Very much."

"No problem. C'mon, we've got a head honcho to deal with."

* * *

_Whumph-whumph!_

"Eh?" Katie paused mid-bite, fork inches away from her mouth. The journalist could have sworn she saw the door damn near _bulge_ in cadence with the thumping. "What the hell?"

"Oh, my…" Abe shook his head, sighing.

Mark looked at him. He scowled from his place at the bar, and then looked up in time to see the front doors in the distance strain in their threshold. "This can't be good."

"Well, it can be," Another sound _whumph-whumph! _went off. They all winced. The fish-man sighed and passed a hand over his face. "And it can't be. Please don't let him break the door down..."

"Who?" Jasper ventured, rather tentatively. He pushed some of his honey-blonde hair out of his face, tucking the strands behind an ear. "Abe?"

"He damn well better not," came the growled opinion of Eric Morris. The man drained his mug and thunked it by the sink. Getting to his feet, he stretched before scowling in the doors' direction. "Or it's out of his pocket to get a replacement!"

"Do we have the honor of knowing," Katie wanted to know. She shoveled the rest of her scrambled eggs into her mouth, guzzling her orange juice. "Just who the hell you guys are on about?"

"Hellboy." Was the short, long-suffering reply from the telepath. He kneaded a temple, and tilted his head back. The others, sans Radha, watched as a grumbling Mr. Morris stalked off toward the foyer. "Apparently, he's here. And following that logic, so are the others."

"Hellboy?" The blond echoed. A booming _whumph-whump! _punctuated his query; he looked toward the double oaken doors with an arched brow.

"My best friend," The fish-man informed him.

"Oh, yeah… You mentioned that..." Mark mused almost idly. He speared a chunk of salmon on his fork and popped it into his mouth. He chewed a moment. "Kept saying that you had to get in contact with them…"

"Yes. It appears Mr. Morris took the initiative to let them know I was all right,"

"Oh?"

"He certainly didn't seem all that surprised," was Jasper's contribution to things. He had eaten earlier, and was simply here for the sake of acclimating to the others. "If somewhat disgruntled,"

"You would be too," Katie muttered, poking at her bacon before bolting it down. She finished off her juice, wiping her mouth roughly with a paper napkin. "I mean sheesh…"

_Whumph-whumph!_

"Calm down! I'm coming!" The door swung open. There was a beat of silence, then a groan. "I swear… Red…"

The trio on the doorstep was nothing short of bizarre. A slender, pretty woman with short black hair and dark eyes, simply dressed in a sweater and jeans; a huge, muscular man with brick-red skin and jet-black sideburns and goatee, with stumps poking out of his forehead, a tail lashing behind him; and a sort of rubber-bodied suit with a helmet resembling a sort of bowl, filled with white smoke.

Hellboy blew some air out of his mouth, a habit he'd gotten into in lieu of puffing a stogie. He had no issue with the so-called cancer sticks, nope, but the lungs of small infants might. He had the decency to try and look sheepish at least. His enormous right hand, which looked like it might have been carved of stone, flexed at his side. "…Aw, man. Look, swear I'll pay for that."

Mr. Morris poked at the shallow dent in the solid wood door and wondered for a moment why he hadn't splurged and gotten one of metal when he had the chance. "It's all right, Hellboy. I'd be impatient if I were you. C'mon, Abe's in the kitchen with the others..."

"Zhis is vhy I said to ring zhe doorbell…" Johann muttered under his breath.

"Shaddap, Johann,"

"So, this is the safe house…" murmured Liz Sherman, ignoring the two men behind her as she glanced about the simply furnished foyer. "Bit bare but I like it."

The doors thunked shut as they meandered toward the kitchen. Mr. Morris chuckled a bit. "Heh. Hoped you guys would. Anyway, we're just finishing up breakfast,"

"Ya said he washed up somewhere? On a beach?"

"Manhattan Beach, yeah. Questions," the man gestured to Katie as she gathered up the dishes and deposited them in the sink. "Are to be directed to those two."

"And thanks," Abe piped, waving to his friends. "They did find me after all,"

"Only doin' like decent people would," Katie muttered, pinking slightly. She pointed to Radha, who had yet to register the newcomers, or anything besides her extra-large mug of joe. "I found ya; she was the stubborn one who insisted ya get dragged ba – "

"But you drove." Radha chimed at last after a long draught. "I got knocked out from lack of air, remember?"

"Vell, either vay…" The German looked toward Mr. Morris. "I do believe zhat explanations are in order."

"Right, right… Everyone, grab a seat. Listen up, and listen good."

They all exchanged looks with each other. Then, they shrugged and taking seats, plunked down to again get an explanation.


	6. Down the Rabbit Hole

6

Down the Rabbit Hole

* * *

Since the house is on fire let us warm ourselves.

**—****Italian proverb**

* * *

"Hey." His voice rang soft and urgent in her ear. A calloused hand gripped her bare shoulder, fingers bronzed next to the ivory hue. He noted that both the strap of her dress and the coarse cotton blanket had slipped down; his face heated up and he tried to ignore it. He shook the girl gently. "Hey. Naminé, wake up. C'mon, up…"

"Mm..." A pair of rich indigo eyes fluttered open, hazed with sleep. The head of platinum-blonde, buttery hair turned towards him. She yawned as she sat back on her heels, stretching slightly. The blanket slipped down onto the cot. "…Roxas?"

"Yeah. It's me," The young man grinned at her a bit, edging closer protectively. He pushed some of his own darker, windswept hair out of his face. He scowled when the pieces merely fell back into his azure eyes and looked toward Naminé. "We got paid, today."

"Really? That's wonderful!"

"Yeah. Between us both, it was enough to get some food – actual food,"

The young woman leaned down under the bed; her fingers caught the fabric handle of a beat-up beach tote, and hauled it out. It held little – a small half-tattered umbrella, a dented smoke-grey aluminum water bottle, and a small box of bandages. "What did you two buy?"

"Dropped in a convenience store on the way back. There were some instant soups and stuff; that's what Axel blew his share on. I used some of mine to get some water,"

Naminé clutched her tote to her chest; she got to her feet with the other blonde, smoothing her dress of its few wrinkles. Her layered, straight hair was flung over her shoulder; she combed it with her fingers. "Where is he now?"

"He was right behind me," Roxas muttered, looking over his shoulder. He snatched up the blanket, scrunching it into a sloppy roll, which he then tucked under his arm. The young woman noted the plastic bag dangling from his free hand. "Wonder where the hell he went?"

"Roxas? What's in the bag?"

"Huh? Oh, this… Well, y'see – "

He was cut off by the sound of footfalls. The two blondes looked up to the sight of a lanky, tall youth three or so years older than them both. He was handsome with sharp features and wild crimson hair, fists pumping as he jogged in their direction. He waved as he approached, the tiny triangles etched below his emerald eyes jet-black on his skin.

"Hey, Roxie! Nami!"

"…Speak of the devil."

"Or," Naminé giggled behind her hand. She slipped the tote onto her shoulder, shaking her head at how Axel had slung their meager groceries over his shoulder. "The pyromaniac."

"Why not both?" Was Roxas' opinion. He threw an amused, unimpressed glance toward the redhead and smirked. "Are they still intact?"

"O' course! Ain't that dumb," The containers of instant soup clunked noisily against each other; Naminé could see moisture silhouetting the bottles of water. "Our feast!"

"Our twenty dollar feast, no less,"

"Still a feast,"

She smiled at them both. It was a bit wan, but mostly amused. "Can I ask what's prompted you both to suddenly stock up?"

"Eh, aside from wanting edible and tasty food?" Axel shrugged at her, grin still in place. He adjusted his hold on the bags. "Just a whim. 'Sides, it's frugal. Just in case we need to run off quick and not starve."

Roxas rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Frugal? You? The inane, insane pyro?"

"Yeah, yeah – anyway! We eat!"

"Soup needs water, Axel. Hot water,"

"No worries, Nami. Now, still got that metal bottle of yours? Gonna need a pot of some kind,"

Naminé forked it over and soon enough, after huddling so no one would notice, Axel had boiled enough water for their soup in the aluminum bottle. Lukewarm, yes and hardly nutritious but it was food and it was actually appetizing.

"Make sure to wipe it out later," She informed the redhead between slurps. She twirled more noodles around the collapsible plastic fork. "I don't want it rusting on me."

"Can aluminum rust?" The other blonde sitting next to her wondered aloud. He had all ready eaten out all of his noodles and resorted to sipping the seasoned broth left in the cup. He coughed slightly, grimacing. _Gah, that's spicy…_

"Don't think so…" The oldest of them was up; he chucked his empty cup over his shoulder. He grinned at the sound of it smacking someone in the head, hearing the squawk. "Anyway, let's motor. Gotta find another place to crash for the night,"

"Rotating rooms…" Naminé muttered as Roxas helped her to her feet. She shook her head and dropped the water bottle back into her tote. "What a concept..."

"Uh-huh. Can't wait until we've moved up and found somewhere stable. And _private _for pity's sake…"

All things considered though, they could have been worse off. The redhead had resigned himself to death, the blondes to being trapped in the bodies of their Somebodies. Roxas had grown to tolerate Sora at least, persistently chipping in his opinion of what went on the islands; sometimes, the brunette would let him take control and operate the body himself. Of course, it was easy to tell them apart; Roxas snapped more, and wasn't easily confused like his counterpart. He'd seen Naminé every day, when Sora saw Kairi.

All he knew was that one moment, he was lurking in the back of Sora's mind and watching as the youth slipped a velvet box into his blazer pocket. The next, as the cheery brunette took up a bouquet, he found himself lying prone on a hillside with Naminé beside him. Axel had been found a day or so later, wandering nearby and whistling incessantly..

_In our own bodies no less. I can't remember when it felt so good to be in the sunlight… _Roxas spared a glance toward the slender young woman, watching the curled ends of her fair straight hair bounce in time to her gait. His blue eyes wandered to the arch of her neck, then fell to south to her shoulders and to her legs; a knot tightened in his stomach. The scalloped hem of her dress barely passed her mid-thigh and while he couldn't complain about how closely it fit her, he wished he was the only one to notice.

"Oy," An elbow jabbed into his ribs; the blonde grunted and threw an irate look at Axel. The redhead smirked. "What's with you? Want some alone time with your girl?"

Roxas flushed and heaved a sigh. He brushed his bangs out of his eyes. "…No, you idiot. I was – just thinking, that's all."

"About her, hm?" The pyromaniac waggled his brows at the shorter man. His grin grew as he swung the bag and its remaining contents over his other shoulder. "Tsk, tsk, Roxas. Thought we were gonna be gentlemanly with Nami?"

"I am!" The younger of them hissed. Good thing Naminé was too engrossed in her daydreaming to notice. "I'm just worried someone else might not be."

"They try, they die," Came the short reply. The tone was nonchalant to anyone else, but Roxas picked up on the edge that entered the redhead's voice. "No ifs, ands, buts or exceptions."

"Wait your turn," was the mutter. _Anyone tries to hurt her – and they're getting personal with Oathkeeper and Oblivion_. "I've got first dibs."

"On what?"

His hand reached for hers, and their fingers laced; he threw her a grin in response to her smile. "Just talking about bunks,"

"Yeah. Blondo here wants the bottom bunk again."

They found an empty room and claimed the furthest corner for themselves. Naminé ended up with the top bunk in here; Roxas claimed the bottom one while his best friend simply rolled out a sleeping bag nearby.

"Why do you always sleep on the floor?" Roxas demanded once Axel had set up. He arched a brow. "Don't you want a bed?"

"Yeah. But someone's gotta be the alarm. This way, I don't bother you two; and anyone goes nuts in the night, they gotta get through me,"

The blonde snorted at him. "Right. Well, thanks, I guess."

"Yeah, yeah," Axel waved him off, grinning again as he lay down. The red spikes of his hair were brilliant against the tattered black vinyl and cotton of the sleeping bag. "Shut up and go to sleep. Tomorrow, we gotta get to work, don't forget."

"Like I could…"

Abruptly, the door shut. They heard footfalls; Naminé sat up above them, the bed frame creaking noisily. "Is it lights out all ready?"

"Don't think so..." Roxas glanced toward the tiny window and frowned. The sun had just begun to set. "It's not dark yet; still dinnertime."

"Room ain't full yet either," The pyromaniac sat up, and scowled. He got to his feet and took note of the still-empty beds. _Still – what, six unfilled slots? _"Hey, you. Open back the door, still's room for five more,"

Squinting, he could see a figure; male, he figured, with a page's cut. They were holding something, a cane or walking stick. Or a staff; it was almost as big as he was. Axel scowled.

"What's with you? Open the door,"

There was an audible shriek behind him; twisting, he saw the top bunk was now empty. _Ah, hell. _"…The hell? Nami!"

"Naminé!"

"Oh, don't worry. She's just fine." A voice sang to them. Axel swore he heard Roxas twitch. "You'll be joining her too,"

"What the hell," the blonde demanded scathingly, jumping to his feet. A weight settled in his hand; from how the handle was wrought, it was Oblivion. "Are you on about?"

"Better yet – what are you?" _Screw incognito. This guy's nuts. _The redhead snapped his fingers and an orb of flame flickered into his hands.

"That is a secret," The man chimed. The two friends exchanged looks, catching the smile on his face as the flames' light flickered in the stranger's direction.

At that moment, the floor gave way to nothing and both young men vanished, shouting, from the room. When the door was flung open by an irate worker moments later, so was the strange man with the staff.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a certain seven-story home, things were yet again being hashed out…

"So, whatcha sayin' is," Hellboy began, having long since resorted to puffing a stogie. Liz was still in the kitchen, having gotten a craving for a peanut butter-and-pickle sandwich. "Abe got his fish-face knocked out, went floatin' 'round in the Atlantic while we were busy worryin' to hell 'bout 'im…"

There were nods all around.

"…An' these two gals – Radha and Katie, right?" He looked their way, pausing. They bobbed their heads and he resumed puffing. "Hauled fish-stick outta the water, saved his ass – and now, we's got an offer to live here?"

"That's the gist of it, Red,"

"Huh… Well, we ain't got much else to run… Plans didn't exactly work out..."

"No shortage of room," Radha pointed out before taking another draught of her coffee. She swallowed, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "If anythin' we've got an excess,"

"Yeah. This home _is_ seven stories,"

"Und, it is also the safe house," Johann added softly. He sounded thoughtful and while he had no facial expressions – well, his gestures sort of made up for it. "Vell, I don't see vhy not. Zhere is nothing to lose; ve vill simply have to be careful, zhat is all,"

"Yeah. S'not anythin' we ain't used to," Red made a show of stretching. He puffed once more on the cigar. "All right, ya got yerselves a deal,"

"Now, for the technicalities – like sharin' bills."

"Oh, for pity's sake, Rad! Let 'em eat first."

"Look, they've just gotta say yes or no, that's it."

Abe coughed into a hand. All eyes in the room darted to him. "…Ah, we don't exactly have jobs, Radha."

"There's your answer!"

"Easily remedied – workin' from home!"

Right then, a portal opened up and spat out three people; two blondes and a redhead. They also happened to land on Hellboy, who was not at all happy.

"Oof! Hey, offame!"

"..Ergh. Wha - ?"

"…Man, that hurts. What're we on? A giant rock?"

"..I – don't think so..."

The others blinked and exchanged looks. Mark spoke up first. "…They came out of the ceiling?"

"More like the hole in the ceiling!" Radha pointed to the flickering portal.

"Dad? Why's there a hole in the ceiling?"

"You're asking me?"

Abe cocked his head. "I believe the term we're looking for, is portal."

Radha blinked at him, and then groaned. She looked at the mess of squawking people on the floor, and passed a hand over her face. "…I need espresso. A jumbo mug of it."


End file.
